KT Increases Hours of Use of Batteries of Smartphones by 45% through C-DRX Technology

KT has developed 'C-DRX (Connected Mode Discontinuous Reception)' technology that increases hours of use of Smartphone batteries up to 45% and became the first South Korean mobile network provider to apply it to entire 14 million LTE customers.

KT’s LTE members now can use their old or new Smartphones longer than before without installing applications or upgrading their devices.

It seems that this technology will have huge effects on users that frequently watch videos or surf the webs. Industries are interested on whether or not this technology will solve any inconvenience such as having to carry supplemental batteries for users.

KT made an announcement on the 12th that it has applied C-DRX technology to entire network in South Korea and became the first South Korean company to commercialize this technology.

C-DRX does not physically increase battery capacity but it is a technology that maximizes hours of use of batteries through network technologies and expands and applies DRX, which reduces amount of use of batteries while in idle state, as access state.

It is impossible for DRX to reduce amount of battery use as signals are consistently sent and received while data is being moved during streaming services for example. However C-DRX minimizes reception and transmission just like idle mode even when data is moving.

C-DRX is a technology that expands and applies current DRX (Discontinuous Reception), which reduces amount of use of batteries while in idle state, as access state.

Even when users are streaming videos, this technology sends and receives data through cycles that are optimally reduced with base stations. It is a method that reduces amount of use of batteries while continuously using services.

KT explained that this technology is similar to 'ISG (Idle Stop&Go)' method that reduces fuel consumption by stopping engine from running unnecessarily when a car is parked.

While streaming videos continuously through Galaxy S8, KT was able to confirm that hours of use of batteries are increased by 4 hours and 27 minutes (45%) when using C-DRX technology on same conditions. While regular Galaxy S8 lasted from 9 hours and 57 minutes to 10 hours and 36 minutes, Galaxy S8 that is applied with C-DRX lasted up to 14 hours and 24 minutes.

While increase in hours of use of batteries can be different according to circumstances such as model of Smartphones, level of performance reduction of batteries, wireless connection, and number of installed applications, KT explained that effects of C-DRX are clear on same conditions.

"Although LTE data traffic per person increased by 260% in the past 3 years due to increase in traffic from videos, average capacity of batteries increased by only 12%." said Director Kang Kook-hyeon of KT’s Marketing Sector. "Technology that reduces amount of use of batteries will satisfy demands that want to use Smartphones little bit longer."

C-DRX is a technology that was established by an international standardization organization called 3GPP and is applied by global telecommunication companies such as Verizon and Vodafone. Because ratio of data loss can become big when C-DRX is simply applied, KT has solved problems by carrying out variety of researches and tests for 2 years.

"We had gone through many processes such as testing C-DRX on equipment from base stations of Samsung Electronics, Nokia, and Ericsson and 114 devices in order to optimize C-DRX." said Director Kang. "It took longer because we wanted to lower ratio of LTE data loss under South Korea's average (0.06%)." This indicates that KT has confirmed superiority of technology by applying C-DRX to entire network in South Korea.

On this day, SK Telecom explained that it is currently providing C-DRX technology to certain regions such as metropolitan cities and Chungcheong region. LG Uplus announced that it completed applying C-DRX to network.

Staff Reporter An, Hocheon | hcan@etnews.com

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